Blastoff!

After recouperating in a Saeder-Krupp affiliated hospital, the team disburses to spend their hard earned money. Tobias and Thankyou are soon contacted by Daedelus/ the Exchange about doing a two part job, as part of a larger job involving multiple teams. They accept. UB! is busy with the Ultradudes, and Atlas is wrapping things up with SK from the last job, so only Rooster and Lodestone join in.

Part one is to gain access to a nearby SETI facility which has a secure lab/observatory/monitoring station that shares space with a Mars City University campus on the high point of a caldera rim. There, they will add a data packet provided by Daedelus to the software upgrade that SETI is going to beam out to it’s satellite network in 3 days time. Rooster, posing as an investment banker, meets with the local SETI head and negotiates access for himself and a client, as well as their bodyguards, which allows the whole team to be on site in disguise. Tobias manages to access the secure network, and implant the data. He then erases his presence, and sets up a camera loop so they are not caught on film in the lab, and then erases the record of the loop, making his intrusion look like merely a camera glitch, should they check. He sets off an alarm while exiting, but they seem to believe the camera trick, and the team leaves without trouble. Rooster promises to be in touch about his client’s money, and then sends a regretful e-mail about their decision not to get involved.

For part two, the team has to intercept a convoy moving from one secure facility in the wastelands to another near the spaceport. They will take out the tail and lead cars, any security personnel, and any tracking devices. They will then steal the semi-trailer carrying the desired commodity, and bring it to a location in the wastes that Daedelus specifies. Tobias scouts the route via satellite, and lets TY choose a good ambush site. He also buys a new HERF gun from Patrick Henry Hughes to replace the one that got melted a while back. TY purchases all the engine repair components they will need to get the semi running again after HERFing it.

They set up their ambush, and TY HERFs the semi on his second try. It rapidly comes to a stop, as do the 2 security SUV’s trailing and leading it. They are marked with ‘wide load’ signs, and the semi cargo looks to be house-sized, although it is encased it protective casing of some sort. The team easily dispatches the 3 security goons and 3 drivers, who look like pretty standard corpsec types. They then tag erase the semi and cargo, after Tobias scans for emitting nodes. They haul ass to the second site, and find an enormous multiple kilometer long ramp stretching out across the Mars desert. Huge camo tarps lie to either side. They drive to the low end of the ramp, where a crane is waiting to unload their cargo. There is also what looks like a large rocket booster and multiple fuel tankers. They seem to have stolen a satellite.

Daedelus enlists Tobias’ assistance in swapping out a large and very dense hardrive for one that Tobias removes from the satellite. Once installed, the crane hauls it onto the launch track, where the other runners present begin connecting the booster under Berokh’s and Daedelus’ instruction. They are told to hurry, as corpsec forces are no doubt on their way. A hum and strange pressure fill the air as magnets along the launch track are readied. Once the booster is attached, the Daedelus body on site directs everyone away from the engine, and fires it up. The satellite, with booster attached, rockets up to an incredible speed before launching skyward, its ablative coating shining. It drops the first stage of the the booster on the way up. Daedelus instructs everyone to clear out and cover their tracks to avoid arrest.

The team is paid for the jobs, and once back in the city, hears news reports of a press release from their old nemeses, the Turing Army. The TA is claiming that they have finally cornered and destroyed the rogue AI Daedelus in its undercity warehouse compound. News footage shows burning buildings, and reports gunfire and explosions in the area earlier in the day. Lodestone and Rooster piece together who exactly they have been working for, and find themselves a bit disturbed.